Tour day Schmalz Stage 9

hearing bob roll say "kaith day parnya" is classic roll...

the LA jersey is only an official TdF jersey on Versus. It lets them keep their hard ons about him no matter where he is.

Fedrigo has now beaten Toto and Pelli for Tour stages!

Yep. Sad day for pizza deliverers everywhere.

He might've gone too early.

Pelli forcing Fedrigo to do all the work.

I call BS. What the hell is with the LA jersey on the graphic and when did that become one of the "official" jerseys on the TdF.

Levi said he doesn't expect to see Wiggins climbing so well in the Alps, and VDV said the same could be said about Levi.

Some awesome trash talk from VDV at the VeloNews live update: http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/live

Chris Henry sent more start photos, including one of Linus. Schmalz's hamster heart just went a pitter patter. Will post soon.

Paul reading from the guidebook about the world's most boring tower. It has rectangular windows!

The chorus of LA haters is as dopey as the cult of the LA faithful

Dropped riders are going to have a hard day. The pack that got over the Tourmalet is huge and chasing hard.

Maybe we can write the next toto on the chaklbot? Is there a character for ham?

Ugh, we're in a chalkbot zone here. So sick of that thing.

Or is the Hog afraid that Berto won't hear his constant chant of "Wait for Lance, wait for Lance"?

I've always wondered why the Hog was so attached to race radios. He always seems adamant about needing them. What's he saying that's so important? Is he afraid that Levi will find out that other riders don't need to forage for their own meals by the roadside?

Caisse and Columbia chasing, Amber Alert issued for Cavendish.

White is remarkably calm on the radio, even when Garmin was down to 5 in the TTT. If you saw Blood Sweat and Gears you'd know that JV is much more of a spaz on the radio.

From Bonnie Ford's twitter: Garmin d.s. Matt White on what car-to-rider radio does or doesn't add: "Well, it depends on who's on the radio, doesn't it?'' Great point.

Nocentini is so lively today even Phil is able to locate him. Never a good sign.

Wow, Tendam looks like he isn't spooked by his crash at all.

No cave here, just limited iPhone battery time. That's funny about Cadel's DS, here's a thought - how about finding 8 guys who won't lose the Tour for Cadel? But I suppose he isn't used to Cadel attacking. I sense some hard riding today before the rest day

Here's an article on the documentary.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-armstrong7-2009jul07,0,5...

There really is a documentary crew following Armstrong's every move, directed by Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). It'll be interesting to see if Gibney starts doing some real fact finding. If he makes a puff piece it'll be a real pockmark on an impressive resumé. In other news, Toto is completely based on reality.

Armstrong catches Jens, Jens thinks he's still hallucinating and seen the devil.

There's a 276 mile transfer to the next stage. The riders will fly, all other schmoes have to drive.

It'll be a shame if Pellizotti wins today, as all of Schmalz's hair jokes will go unused.

And there's two of us here now! The rest of NY in a media cave so they can watch later tonight at the BXL party. Ugh.

CFA is predicting increasing grouchiness from Cadel, which should make for interesting post race interviews. Someone please shove a microphone in his face!

Where I come from a Nocentini is three parts vodka, one part vermouth and whatever blood you have left in the fridge. Raspberry eau-de-vie for the squeamish.

New CFA post: http://cyclingfansanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/07/sunday-update_11.html

Fedrigo struggles with his zipper while descending. Yikes!

VeloNews reports that there's someone dressed as Jesus on the Tourmalet. Jens thinks he's hallucinating.

A lotta people said this would be a tough first week, but after some initial fireworks it's really sucked. What a waste of the Tourmalet.

Even Cadel's DS thinks his move yesterday was stupid?

“I think we won’t see any other big moves until the Alps in the final week, but you never know,” the Silence-Lotto race director, Hendrik Redant, said. “We can’t just make moves without planning, like a chicken without its head. Cadel knows he must make up three minutes, and that won’t be easy.”

Bawm Chicka Bawm attack! Jens is popped, is forced to discuss Catholicism with himself.